The Final Stroke
by Christina-Potter-09
Summary: Post S3x13. Arthur & Morgana finally meet after her betrayal and dethronement, and for the first time in a long time, the two Pendragons are honest with each other, maybe too honest for their wounded souls... Armor please R&R.


_OOK this is something I wanted to make for awhile now, I love armor, I don't care if they're siblings, the legends talk of two great personalities and even if the writers of Merlin failed to see that, I still love them, their relationship, no matter the amount of hatred or love, is legendary and immortal._

_Enjoy..._

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_The Final Stroke_

He moved inside the dark chambers that once were occupied by her, his first love, his _sister_, the one who dethroned their father, the one who tried to kill him, Morgana.

His eyes burnt, like his throat ached, like his head was heavy. Where did it all go wrong? Where did he miss the signs of her great change? Was she always evil? No. Was she always with magic? Probably. When he lost the ability to tell when she lied? Probably a long time ago… When he abandoned her side and got lost in his own matters? When they stopped talking and communicating? Even longer ago…

He looked around the chambers, her presence still lingered in here, her brush was always where she had it, her mirror reflected his own dark form and not her fair skin and bright eyes. Her bed was with no sheets anymore and the chest of hers on the bottom was also emptied of any object. After the search from the soldiers for more signs of witchcraft.

It had been weeks ever since the fight, the city was returning back to normal, the kingdom knew now and there were mixed thoughts and feelings about Uther and how he could have disown his own daughter. There were also mixed feelings about Morgana, some used to love her, some always saw her as a guest, she was the ward and suddenly she was either the traitor of the king or the betrayed child who tried to claim what was hers.

And what about him? He was the next king, there was no question about it by now. Morgana was dethroned, Uther seemed unable to keep up both to the people and Arthur himself… the King was lost in a universe of his own, one of guilt, self-pity and misery. Arthur never imagined his… sister's attempt for the throne would eventually bring him there sooner than expected.

His silent footsteps brought him to her wardrobe, he hadn't been in her room for a long time… another reason to feel guilt inside him. At first it had been anger, furry, thirst for revenge, but then, it was in his character to try and find some justice for her, for her hideous actions against him who would even give his place to the throne for her to see another sunrise…

And the reasons were soon formed in his mind, first it was the year with Morgause… Morgana had obviously been poisoned by her older sister… Merlin had told Arthur that he heard Morgana calling her that. Morgause had obviously used the confused and terrified Morgana to her favor.

And then, Arthur wondered why Morgana had been terrified and confused, and soon the scale was bending towards him, Uther and the rest…

Morgana had told him, even in the middle of the court, that she had been seeing terrible things and he had tried to brush her off, it was no secret that Morgana had been having nightmares ever since she was a child. Arthur knew first hand, while she was younger and sneaking into his bed for protection, and later on while she tried to warn him and he laughed her off, her "feelings" and "bad dreams" suddenly revealed themselves. They hadn't been things she made up because she like him, they had been actual magical signs, provoked by her care for him. At least back then when she cared…

But he had good reason to brush off such things, if he had taken her seriously, like sometimes did, late at night when her terrified eyes haunted him, made him ache for him to touch and reassure her, if he had dared take seriously her words, if he had mentioned anything to Uther… Morgana would have been burnt or beheaded and that was something that simply made him choke, even now… that she deserved it.

The guilt suddenly suffocated him, he distanced himself from her, from the person who was closest to him ever since she arrived in the court, so many years ago. He replaced her with Merlin for company and he killed his love for her with Gwen, while Morgana turned into a dark creature through her fears…

He could see now, she had been wounded and Morgause, with her magic and manipulations, mended that wound and took out Morgana's darkest side, a side we all have but try to keep down… Morgana had dared to accept her change, and had even used it as her sister taught her to.

Arthur looked at his _sister's_ dresses, he still couldn't believe they shared the same blood, the blood of the Pendragons… along the guilt, the pain, the feeling of having betrayed her and being betrayed by her… he was also feeling the filth… he had been in love with her for years, she had been the only one to motivate him, to challenge him, to stand before her as an equal… little had he known she was an equal Pendragon indeed.

The colors of her dresses were bright even in the dark wardrobe, he could see the green dress, the dark blue, the normal blue that always made her eyes look more like his than emerald. The white was also there, one of her most formal, the one she had worn in her coronation… along her formal purple and her most favorite, the blue with the teal tunic, it had been a gift of his to her, in the colors of the house of Gorlois, the house they all thought she belonged. Only her red one was absent, along with her since she had escaped in it, the color of the Pendragons, the true house in which she belonged.

But why he was in her chamber in the middle of the night? Staring at her dresses like a pet would do? Why now? After all this? Why he couldn't just call her a poisonous bitch and declare her wanted with a price for her precious head? Why he couldn't just keep his mind on the belief that all people with magic are evil and bad? Why he couldn't find any solace in Gwen's touch or Merlin's words? Why he missed her more than ever? Why the guilt suffocated him?

He sighed, he knew the reason, he wouldn't even dare think it among others, but now he was alone, in her chambers, like a pet, and his heart bled for her absence, even if he had tried to refuse it a long time now, even if he had clutched to Guinevere and had even obsessed himself with the maidservant… he couldn't deny it any longer…

He was in love with Morgana, his sister, his enemy, the woman he grew up with. The woman who knew him better than anyone. The only one who used to beat him. The one who saved him so many times over and the one who tried to kill him herself. The only one who dared to challenge him. The one who knew of his fears and demons like he knew of hers.

He left her room, slamming the door behind him, moved through the corridors and stormed inside the stables where he took his stallion. He needed some fresh air, her presence in her chambers, in the palace, in the entire Camelot chocked him.

He needed to run away, just like she had done a few weeks prior.

She _felt_ him nearing, it's as if her blood awakens with magic and knowledge, she knew of his sense, his presence, as if it was her own. Her magic also helped, he's mad, furious, desperate, miserable.

She smirks.

_Now you know how it feels._

She's still mad at everyone, at Uther, for all his lies and manipulations, at Gwen, for her wavering friendship and abandonment, at Gaius, for knowing of both Morgause and her and never saying a word, instead, of poisoning her with his potions. At Merlin… for trying to kill her, multiple times, for lying to her, for keeping his magic secret and letting her drown in misery and madness when she had just needed a helping hand, she had seen it all. She was even mad at Morgause, her dead sister for whom her heart still ached, the only person who accepted her like she was, for who she was, yet, even Morgause had betrayed her, used her, manipulated her for her own goals and purposes…

But above all, she was mad at Arthur, for moving away from her, for being so darn oblivious, for refusing to accept the things she revealed to him, for not thinking, for sticking with Uther's side all the time, for not caring for her like she did with him, for denying the things they both felt for each other, or used to feel. For failing to see what Merlin was doing under his nose, for having Gwen above all in no time, for being the one to always challenge her, for being the one she grew up with, loved like none else, yet, he was the one to show her we all are born and get to die alone.

The decisions have been made, the pawns are set, Mordred is ready and by her side, the war is about to begin and she knows, she has seen it, Arthur will fall, along Camelot and the rest, and Mordred will be his downfall. But even if she knows she will be victorious, even if she tries to preserve her furry as to mask everything else, she wants to see him, for one, final time, so she can make him realize, so she can make him kneel like she was made to for years, she wants to give him the final stoke, the stroke of guilt that finally surfaced in his heart.

The forest is dark, misty and he gallops through the crisp air, he hadn't been alone in a long time, always Merlin was there, or Gwen, or Sir Leon, or someone else, as he galloped into the night, he felt slightly better, alone, finally, he needed that air, here none's presence seemed to linger.

The dark figure that suddenly blocked his way made him gasp and pull back the reins of his horse, the animal stood on its back legs but made it to stop before it could hit the hooded figure. Arthur's heart started racing, her, the dark waves of curls, the pale chin, the only feature revealed from the hood, the tall posture in the black cloak, Morgana.

'Good evening, little brother…' her voice was cold, icy, toneless, it gripped his heart painfully. He dismounted and looked at her as she revealed herself by taking off the hood with both hands, she was dressed in black, a color he had never seen before on her, a color that made her skin almost glow in the moonlight. 'You won't greet your older sister?' she asked mockingly this time, provoking him in a darkest way than she would have done in the past.

'You betrayed me…' he finally said, his voice holding no accusation and no furry, it was a simple statement, the simple truth, it hurt her, right in her heart, she felt even more infuriated, this time with herself too, for giving him unwillingly the power to hurt her.

'Just like you did, _brother_,' she spat, using the word "brother" as if it's an insult and in a way, it is, after what they had been through, after the years they grew up together, after the feelings they had for each other and they had fought to burry deep inside them, calling him brother was an insult.

'I never betrayed you, Morgana,' Arthur said, in the same toneless tone and it made her even madder, she approached him, her eyes blazing with furry.

'Yes you did,' she whispered as she looked up at him while they stood a mare inch apart. 'When you forgot about me, when you decided to laugh off my concerns for you, when you knew how I felt and rubbed it at my face instead of looking deeper, of admitting how you felt too… When I kept trying for help and you looked away!' Morgana accused him of all the things he already felt guilty for.

'I never meant to hurt you,' he whispered as he looked down at her, the eyes that had looked at him with care, pride, affection, love now were looking at him with furry and hatred, his heart cracked.

'I don't care about what you were meant to do, I care about what you did!' Morgana retorted and Arthur kept looking at her, his face betraying only pain, pain that radiated from his blue eyes and pierced her already wounded soul.

'You could have talked to me, I was there… I had been searching for you for an entire year, you could have helped me help you…' Arthur whispered, did really matter for them to use a "what if" scenario? Maybe, for their heart's remedy.

'And you could have asked, you could have looked deeper… like you used to do in the past, when you cared about me, why I had to be the one to always make you look, why you never tried?' Morgana asked, this almost remind to both of them their old arguments, when they both pushed the responsibility to one another.

'I was scared…' Arthur admitted truthfully, he couldn't be honest with a lot of people, and it almost surprised him he was still honest with Morgana.

'I was scared too!' Morgana this time screamed, her eyes finally revealing more than hatred and furry, they showed emotion. 'I was scared when I had the dreams of your death! I was scared when I had been warning you and you were pushing me away! I was scared when everyone abandoned me, when _you_ abandoned me and I turned even to that traitorous rat, Merlin, for a helping hand that he so ironically denied. I was scared when I fell from the stairs and learnt about Uther being my father, I was scared when Merlin poisoned me! I was always scared!' Morgana kept screaming and this time Arthur frowned, he wasn't sure why she called Merlin like that but he was shocked to hear that he had poisoned her. Morgana caught his shock.

'And you think _I_ betrayed you… you have no idea what has been played behind your back by your beloved friend, Merlin. He poisoned me, and Morgause saved me, he lied to you about what Morgause showed to you about your mother, he was the reason of my fall from the stairs, he's a warlock!' Morgana revealed to Arthur all the truth she had seen through her powers ever since she flee Camelot.

'You're lying,' Arthur this time accused her for the first time, she was trying to turn him against his closest friend, she was trying to poison his heart, she was trying to spread more darkness. Morgana chuckled, this time in sadness and pity.

'I don't care if you believe me or not, sooner or later you will see the truth for both your good friend and your precious servant-love, she will betray you too, with your dear friend and knight, that two-faced bastard you have taken in your army, Lancelot.' Morgana revealed more things and Arthur this time closed the inch he had separating him and even pushed her against a tree that was behind her. She was making him furious; she was lying over very sensitive matters of his heart and she knew it.

'Stop it!' he warned in a low voice but Morgana looked up at him with nothing but a smirk of superiority.

'You know it's the truth, it's seeded in your heart, the doubt, the fear of your beloved servant running away with your knight, of her realizing she doesn't belong with a king but with someone below, someone like her…' Morgana said out loud some of his fears and this time he nudged her hard in his arms against the tree, Morgana knew both him and Gwen and she knew exactly where to strike.

'Shut up!' he rasped in a whisper of furry, she was finally coaxing pain out of him, she was making him an equal of hers in their misery.

'Struck a nerve?' she whispered close to his ear and Arthur used all his willpower not to take out his sword in an attempt to make her stop talking, he wasn't sure he would ever be able to run her through with his blade and he knew she was aware of that.

'You're lying about Guinevere and you're lying about Merlin! Morgause poisoned your soul and you're tying to become contagious but you won't make it!' Arthur rasped in her own ear and he knew the name of her dead sister would hurt her just like she hurt him: deeply. He achieved it.

'You don't deserve to be using my sister's name in your mouth! She saved me, she helped me, she did what you and our dear _father_ failed to do!' Morgana retorted in anger, lashing back her abandonment from the Pendragons, her actual people. 'As for your dear Gwen… wait and see, and for Merlin too… one day you'll realize how many poisonous snakes you have around your neck but it will be too late, she's blinded by your titles and not who you are and Merlin's been using the advice of the beast that tried to take Camelot down at first chance, he only craves a great destiny, promised by the dragon and he doesn't stop before anything as to get it.' Morgana added with the truth she had seen for the future and Arthur, to her greater furry, laughed at her face.

'You're talking about poisonous snakes… you, who played your role so nicely, I thought I had lost you, I had felt guilty of your loss, I had searched for you for an entire year, I had promised you were safe in Camelot and I had meant it when I had no idea you were the disease, I had trusted you and you only attempted to kill me and father.' Arthur accused back and she laughed too, they knew exactly how to drive each other mad in the middle of the misty forest, against the tree.

'_Father_ deserves his fate many times over!' Morgana started and saw him fuming. 'As for you and my attempts… you were only standing in the way, it was "nothing" personal and since we had became strangers… you were the only obstacle between me and my birthright to the throne, little brother.' Morgana said as coolly as she could master with him so close to her, it was hard to lie straight away with his hot breath hitting her lips in every angry gasp he took.

'You're heartless,' Arthur stated and this time he didn't try to make her even more furious as his voice was as toneless as it had been the first time he talked to her that night.

'I _became _heartless,' she corrected him and pushed him away, achieving only to get him at arm's length.

They remained silent after her words, looking at each other's eyes, remembering, knowing, understanding and hating each other for all they were worth. Nothing mattered now, not their actual relation, not their dual rights to the throne, not their father, not their mothers or the magic they were both made of, not the kingdom they both wanted, not the ones who had betrayed them, not even the feelings they once had for each other, the feelings that tonight surfaced like a seed that blossomed in the darkest part of their hearts and now chocked them like poisonous ivy.

His hands shot up and grasped her pale face, brought her close to him painfully and he crashed his lips with hers, everything and everyone forgotten, they deserved that much, just a taste of how it could have been, if things were different, if their destiny wasn't so hard with them. Even in their first and last kiss, they were competitive, fistic for domination, angry and full of lust, full of shame and sin. They parted after a few heated moments for oxygen, their eyes locking.

They had never felt like that, so much passion, so many sparkles, so much pain and so much joy in a kiss of total impurity. Morgana had never found a good enough man and even if Arthur had Guinevere, only Morgana could provoke so many emotions just with her sinful lips.

'When did it all go wrong?' Arthur whispered, for the first time his voice normal, quiet, right.

'When you chose what was easy over what was right…' Morgana answered his question, her tone almost the same with his, only actual pain was added in her words. They parted, their masks of hatred and remorse back on their souls. He moved away, feeling a little more tainted and a little alive, for the first time in weeks. He mounted and turned his horse towards Camelot.

'Arthur…' Her voice halted him from leaving; he looked at her, her face sad, honest, like it used to be when she ached for his safety. 'I am sorry… for what is to come…' Morgana only said but Arthur had no response for her, he galloped away, once again leaving her behind, only this time, they both knew there was no other way…

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I hope you liked it :) It was just an one-shot, please review and let me know :)

CP09


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